Chemical Engineering June 2015 - 58

Solids Processing
Measuring Exposures to Aerosols and Dust
Accurate measurements of exposures to aerosols and dusts by plant personnel can
be tricky. Here is some help for determining exposures and addressing uncertainties
Aaron Bird
CD-adapco
U
ncontrolled aerosols (defined
as suspensions of
fine solid or liquid particles
in gaseous media) in the
chemical process industries (CPI)
are of significant concern both as
explosion hazards and as sources
of adverse respiratory-health effects
among exposed workers. Events
such as the 2008 explosion of airborne
and deposited sugar dust at
the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port
Wentworth, Ga., which killed 16
people and injured 42, are tragic,
and conditions leading to this type
of explosion are a legitimate cause
for alarm. However, sometimes
overlooked are the adverse health
effects from long-term exposure to
airborne contaminants. While the
number of early deaths from chronic
dust exposures has steadily decreased
from a high of nearly 5,500
per year in the early 1970s, airborne
dusts still contribute to the illness
and early deaths of over 2,000 U.S.
workers each year [1].
The combined risks of combustible-dust
explosions, and of longterm
exposure to airborne dusts
make it clear that efforts to measure
and control airborne aerosols, including
dusts, must continue to ensure
workplace safety.
Unfortunately, this is not a simple
proposition. Barriers remain in
determining accurate aerosol concentrations,
controlling airborne
and fugitive dusts, and knowing
what regulations apply to the vari58
ous
sectors of the CPI. This article
provides information on how
sampling of airborne dust is conducted,
how personnel exposures
are calculated and how to deal with
the uncertainty in those measurements,
relative to compliance with
governmental regulations.
Personal exposure
Exposure to airborne dust contaminants
is determined in nearly
every case by measuring the timeweighted
average of exposure over
the period of a single work shift in the
breathing zone of the potentially affected
worker. This is referred to as
personal sampling for air contaminants.
Compliance with legal limits
is then determined by comparing
the exposure value with the legal
permissible exposure limit in a ratio
called severity, Y, as follows:
Y = (Personal exposure concentration)
÷ (Permissible exposure limit)
(1)
Once Y is determined, the resulting
ratio is adjusted by the sampling and
analytical error [SAE; Equations (2)
and (3)], and then compared with
compliance criteria according to
upper and lower 95% confidence
limits. SAE is determined from statistical
errors of the analytical method(s)

http://www.osha.gov http://www.Chemengonline.Com

Chemical Engineering June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2015

Contents
Chemical Engineering June 2015 - Cover1
Chemical Engineering June 2015 - Cover2
Chemical Engineering June 2015 - Contents
Chemical Engineering June 2015 - 2
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Chemical Engineering June 2015 - Cover3
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